Touch-sensitive surfaces are used as input devices in a variety of computing devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, two-way radios, smart watches, wearable computing devices, etc. By interacting with the touch-sensitive surface (e.g. touching with one or more fingers), a user may interact with the computing device and/or cause the computing device to carry out a variety of actions.
In some scenarios, it may be inconvenient or impossible for a user to visually confirm that the user's fingers are correctly registered to a given position on the touch-sensitive surface. For example, a user may not have the opportunity or desire to look at the touch-sensitive surface while driving a car, pedaling a bike, running, or conducting another activity. In some situations, a user may be visually impaired or the touch screen may not be lit or labeled. In such situations, it may be useful to provide a robust way to disambiguate touch events on a touch surface without requiring visual confirmation by the user. Fingerprint analysis methods are able to provide some degree of disambiguation between touch events; however, such techniques may fail to work reliably with gloved hands and/or under dirty or other harsh conditions.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for disambiguating touch interactions.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.